Van Gastel Kevin - Brecht King Great Middle Distance 2022 - St. Job

24 Oct 2022

Brecht: It is somewhat with mixed feelings that Kevin is sitting opposite me at the living room table. The decision to auction all his pigeons is clearly not one that was taken lightly. Kevin starts his story: "Ever since I was 14 years old, which is now 25 years ago, I have been crazy about pigeon racing. Breeding pigeons and even better racing pigeons is in my genes because my father Jos is also a fanatical fancier. We used to race together. The tasks were divided and the short distance races were our favourite playground. Then, in 2009, I started a loft in my own name. I was able to buy the house across the street from my parents' house and I must say that dad Jos crossed the street several times a day to lend a hand at my place too. In 2013, I won the Kingship St. Job on the short distance and I saw that as a highlight to abandon the short distance more and to focus on the middle distance races. The whole thing clicked wonderfully but in 2017 my dad developed serious health problems and had to undergo a lung transplant. As a result, he was no longer allowed to visit the pigeon lofts and I thus lost a helping hand. However, this incident motivated me to go for it even harder and to work even harder and at the same time my pigeons proved that they could also handle the 500km races perfectly. They won e.g. 1st Nat (z) Chateauroux old birds, 1st prov. Vierzon young birds, 10th National ace KBDB middle distance old birds and many prizes of honour in the strong local of St. Job.

The base of my colony was initially built up with pigeons from local short distance racers where a cock with a lot of "Marcelis" blood and an Achiel De Ceuster hen formed a true top pair. Both their children and grandchildren enjoyed winning in the top of the results and crowned themselves as ace birds in various championships. From these pigeons I created my own strain, so to speak, which was successfully enriched with pigeons from my good friend Bart Geerinckx. In 2016 and 2017, I got 8 pigeons from there each time. Especially the line of my "Witte Geerinckx" (B17-6023262) has the talent to perform rock hard on the races. Besides the Geerinckx pigeons, I am super satisfied with the contribution of pigeons from Johan den Hartog en Zoon and a cock from Staf Mertens (line "Olympic Niels" Van Dyck and "Leeuw" Wouters Marcel). A voucher allowed me to get a young pigeon from Ronny Defeyter. I chose me hen B15-6021282 and put it between my youngsters. At the end of the season she crowned herself as 10th National ace KBDB middle distance and afterwards she became the mother of "Sofia" (won 11 prices 1/10) and "Kevin" (won 1st Melun 3,400b.).

No youngsters bred in 2022
Meanwhile, things are not only going super on the pigeon front but also professionally, all sails are set. Kevin, who works in meat processing company Pluma in Wommelgem, gets more and more responsibility in the company. More responsibility is usually linked to more irregular working hours and sometimes meetings until the late evening hours, which means that punctual care for the pigeons is out of the question.
Combine this with the attention the young Van Gastel family also deserves and then there is too little time for the pigeons to take care of everything to perfection. "And that's where the shoe pops" Kevin tells us. "When I do something I want to do it well. I hate half-measures, which is why I had already decided at the end of 2021 not to breed any more youngsters so that I could give all my little free time to the old and yearling team."
It is now a period in my life where my family and work take precedence over pigeon racing and that is why, in consultation with my wife, I decided to put everything on sale with the exception of a few pigeons older than 2014 (matter of being able to go to the pigeons anyway). All breeders and all racers are in the auction.
It was certainly not an easy decision but several fanciers, including Bart Geerinkx, have already had great success with my pigeons and that strengthens me that the buyers of my pigeons also have a good chance to succeed. I wish everyone lots of success already.

Some toppers in the auction are: